Edmonds council to interview 10 applicants for vacancy

The Edmonds City Council has set Feb. 17 to interview the 10 people who have applied to fill the vacancy on the Edmonds City Council created when former Councilman Strom Peterson left to start the term in the State House of Representatives that he won in the November election.

Among the applicants are former Edmonds Economic Development Director Stephen Clifton; Deputy Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Adam Cornell; Edmonds Economic Development Commission member Debbie Matteson; Edmonds Port Commissioner David Preston; former council candidate Alvin Rutledge, a Republican candidate in the 32nd Legislative District in 2014; Jeff Scherrer, a Republican candidate in the 21st Legislative District in 2014; and Edmonds Planning Board member Neil Tibbott, who was an applicant in 2014, when the council appointed Thomas Mesaros to replace former Councilman Frank Yamamoto.

Here are names of other applicants: Mario Brown, Michael Jay Nelson, David L. Teitzel.

The person appointed would serve through certification of the November election, when voters will choose someone to fill the last two years of the term that Peterson won in 2013.

The council plans to start the Feb. 17 meeting at 5 p.m. to conduct interviews with all applicants. Members plan to vote March 3.

The appointment would follow several contentious votes to fill council vacancies over the last six years. In early 2009, the council took 33 ballots to appoint Peterson, who won a full term later that year and re-election in 2013. In 2014, the council took 59 ballots to appoint Mesaros.

Councilwomen Diane Buckshnis, Lora Petso and Kristiana Johnson all first joined the council by appointment before winning election to full terms.

Buckshnis has said that she thinks that the council can avoid another protracted round of balloting despite being reduced to six members during the vacancy.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.

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